Roger Lea MacBride ’51

Body

Roger died Mar. 5, 1995, in Miami Beach. Within the class, he was sui generis. There was no one like him — a lawyer, a Presidential candidate, an author, and a TV producer. Roger prepared at Exeter. At Princeton, he was a politics major, a member of Cloister Inn, president of Clio, and active in campus political organizations.

After getting a law degree from Harvard in 1954, Roger joined the New York law firm of White & Case. He resigned, moved to Vermont, and served a term in the state legislature, where his reputation was that of a gadfly, proposing, for instance, bills to abolish the state's college system.

In 1976, he ran for President on the Libertarian ticket and, in a barnstorming trip in an old DC-3 he had bought, got more publicity than votes. Nevertheless, he joined the short list of Princeton alumni who have run for President: Aaron Burr Jr., James Madison, Woodrow Wilson, Norman Thomas, and Adlai Stevenson.

Roger was involved in the production of the Little House on the Prairie TV series, since he was the adopted son of Rose, author Laura Ingalls Wilder's only daughter. When he died, Roger was writing a series of young adult books on Rose's childhood.

He is survived by a daughter, Abigail Adams MacBride, and two sisters, Patricia and Pamela. The class sends its condolences.

No responses yet

Join the conversation

Plain text

Full name and Princeton affiliation (if applicable) are required for all published comments. For more information, view our commenting policy. Responses are limited to 500 words for online and 250 words for print consideration.

Paw in print

Image
The October 2025 cover of PAW, featuring an illustration of a woman dressed like Superman, but the S on her chest is a dollar sign.
The Latest Issue

October 2025

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott ’92; President Eisgruber ’83 defends higher ed; Julia Ioffe ’05 explains Russia.